1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a skin treatment tool. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for transdermal fluid delivery.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Current techniques for superficial skin resurfacing, known as microdermabrasion, treat the outer epidermal layer of the skin by removing the superficial layer to induce the body's own natural wound healing response. It is known in the art to couple microdermabrasion with fluid delivery to enhance therapeutic effects. However, combined microdermabrasion/fluid delivery treatments are hindered by the protective barrier function of the stratum corneum which limits the depth of penetration and absorption to the surface of the skin when drugs and/or fluids are applied to the skin.
Other techniques for skin enhancing include transdermal drug delivery employing an electrical current (e.g., skin electroporation) are known. However, these techniques have limited results based on: 1) the lack of an efficient fluid supply/return system using a vacuum; 2) the impedance of the stratum corneum which limits the efficacy of the current technologies of electrical penetration of drugs and/or fluids; and 3) the optimal permeation structure of the skin occurs during application of an electrical current and only lasts a few seconds after application of the electrical pulse.
Known technologies for delivery of an electro-current, to the skin suffer from one or more of the following deficiencies which lead to limited results, including, a lack of an efficient fluid supply/return system using a vacuum source; an inability to simultaneously apply fluid and electro-current to the skin; as a means to lower the impedance of the stratum corneum.
The major disadvantage of the conventional art is that the fluid cannot be directly applied from on the abrading surface to the skin. An injection end of a tube is extended close but separate to the abrading surface so that the fluid is injected to the abrading surface through the injection end. The fluid flowing through injection end will not be evenly distributed the fluid on the abrading surface when applying on the skin. Most of the fluid in fact will never be in contact with the skin and be wasted because the fluid cannot fully penetrate between the skin and the abrading surface of the skin. More importantly, the individual injection tube structure is used when there is a motor utilized in the microdermabrasion device.
US. Pub. No. 2010/0049177 A1 Boone, discloses a microdermabrasion system which comprises a tip having an abrading surface and a side surface, wherein a plurality of fluid channels terminate on the side surface of the tip. That is to say, the fluid cannot be directly delivered through to the abrading surface of the tip. Boone further discloses a plurality of radiation sources evenly distributed around a perimeter of the tip and between the tip and the vacuum opening. This structure has a major disadvantage that the fluid will only deliver to the radiation sources but not the abrading surface because of the vacuum effect at the vacuum opening. Therefore, the user must hold the hand piece of Bonne to manually move to the tip on the skin. Also, Boone describes using radio frequency to heat below the skin but does not describe any relationship to the fluid delivery or abrasive. It is a means to penetrate heat into deeper layers to cause tightening of the skin but do not create a transdermal pathway for fluid. This type of frequency also has no relationship with abrasion and liquid.
US. Pub. No. 2004/0138680 A1 Twitchell et al., disclosed a microdermabrasion apparatus comprising an exfoliation tip mechanically coupled to a motor via a shaft and a tube extended to a vacuum pace in the suction cup. The suction cup as taught by Twitchell et al. is arranged in such a way that the user's skin is pulled partially into the suction cup where a vacuum is formed within the space in the suction cup. That is to say, no fluid is applied onto the exfoliation tip and no fluid is sucked back via the tube.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,343,116, Ignon et al., disclosed a skin treatment system comprising a tip having at least one abrasive element configured to abrade skin, a delivery port and a suction port extended to a working surface of the tip, wherein the delivery port delivers fluid from a first canister to the working surface of the tip and the suction port sucks the fluid back to a second canister from the working surface of the tip. The disadvantage of the system as taught by Ignon et al. is that the fluid will be sucked back by the suction port right after the fluid is delivered to the working surface of the tip. That is to say, the fluid will not be applied long enough on the working surface of the tip. Also, without any motor incorporated within the system as taught by Ignon et al., the user must hold the hand piece of Ignon et al. to manually move the tip over the skin in a scratching motion. Thus, the system as taught by Ignon et al. makes it impossible to incorporate with any electrodes because both the delivery port and suction port are located right at the working surface of the tip. So the fluid cannot be delivered to be in contact with any electrode after it is vacuumed back by the suction port.
Accordingly, there is a need for a skin resurfacing and enhancement system with an enhanced fluid delivery/fluid return capacity which also improves the permeation structure of the skin. The present invention discloses an apparatus and method for transdermal fluid delivery which provides three different skin treating functions for skin treatment to transdermally penetrate fluid deeper into the skin by means of simultaneous 1) abrasive peeling 2) electrical stimulation 3) liquid infusion in order to improve the skin structure affecting multiple layers of the skin, such as the epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis. The present invention also provides an innovative structure to simultaneously guide the fluid to the tip surface and to prolong the traveling path of the fluid.